


Catherine and Hobbes

by Knight_Writer_95



Category: Calvin & Hobbes
Genre: Adventure, Family, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 00:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3956989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knight_Writer_95/pseuds/Knight_Writer_95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twenty-six years after that last trip in the toboggan, Calvin is married and has a daughter who's having problems with the monsters under the bed. Can an old friend of Calvin's help her? And can his daughter help him see his best friend again? R&R.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

"Wow, it really snowed last night! Isn't this wonderful?" Calvin asked his best friend, Hobbes as they trudged through the fresh fallen snow with the toboggan.

"Everything familiar has disappeared! The world looks brand-new!" the anthropomorphic tiger agreed.

"A new year… a fresh clean start!" continued the six-year old.

"It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!"

"A day full of possibilities! It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy…" Calvin commented as they got on the toboggan. "Let's go exploring!"

Calvin's voice echoed through the woods as he and his best friend set of to do just that.

* * *

26 years later…

"DAAAAAAAAAD!"

A now thirty-two year old Calvin groaned as the voice penetrated the quiet atmosphere of the house. He turned over and pulled his wife closer to him in hopes that the hollering would just stop. No such luck.

"DAAAAAAAAD!"

"Aren't you going to do something about our daughter?" muttered Susie.

If someone had told six-year old Calvin that he would one day marry his then neighbor and object of his scorn, Susie Derkins, he would have called them loony and gotten the dry heaves.

"She's your daughter too, you know," he muttered back.

"It's not my problem. She's calling for you."

"DAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

Calvin grimaced and finally got up out of the nice warm bed.

"Twenty-six years and you still drive me crazy, Derkins," he smiled slightly as he stretched and was rewarded with some snaps.

"Well you still drive me crazy too. Like when you call me by that name when you haven't been able to for the past eight years."

Calvin chuckled and glanced at the digital clock. 3:44 am. Now he knew how his parents felt when he got them up this early. "I swear the kid's just like me when I was her age."

He sighed and forced his legs to carry him down the hall to his daughter's room. When he opened the door he was greeted with a screech and a dart in the forehead.

"AAAAAIIIEEEE! A monster in the hallway!"

Calvin quickly shut the door before he opened it a crack again.

"Whoa, easy Catherine, it's me!"

"Dad?"

"Yes, now please put down the dart gun!"

"Sorry dad."

"It's alright, now what was all that about?" he asked as he sat down on his daughter's bed.

Both Calvin's and Susie's hair gene must have been dominate because Catherine's hair was blonde with brown streaks in it. It had Calvin's familiar spikes but fell in a more feminine way. Her eyes, though, were the same brown as her mother's.

"There are monsters under my bed! They're going to eat me as soon as I fall asleep!"

The corners of Calvin's mouth twitched upward slightly as he recalled the days when he thought the same way. His parents never played along for some reason but at least he had a friend to protect him. Wait a minute, a friend?

"You know what Cat, I just might know someone who can help you with this monster problem. I'll be right back."

Calvin walked out of the room and went to his studio. The room was illuminated by the light of the full moon filtering in through the window. It fell perfectly on who he was looking for. Hobbes sat on a shelf of the bookcase in all his orange and black striped glory. Calvin pulled him down and looked at him. Sad as it was, Calvin no longer saw Hobbes the way he used to. He now saw what his parents and everyone else saw: a limp tattered and stitched up stuffed tiger. Seeing Hobbes triggered a flash of memories for him. It had been a slow transition to letting go of Hobbes in a way. As Calvin grew up he actually made some friends. He started hanging out with them more and saw Hobbes less and less. The tiger would still pounce on Calvin when he got home from Jr. high but by that time Calvin was able to hold his own against the exuberant Hobbes. In the winter Hobbes would want to build snowmen or go walking in the woods and they sometimes did. But not always, with Calvin saying he was going to see the guys or Susie.

That was another change for Calvin. Actually becoming friends with the person he had viewed as his nemesis. By the time the sixth grade started he and Susie had become friends. When they got to high school they officially became a couple and shared their first kiss. As high school progressed Calvin started seeing Hobbes as a stuffed animal more and more. Both Calvin and Susie were ecstatic when they found out they were going to the same college. By this time Calvin had lost the ability to see Hobbes all together but couldn't bring himself to put his old friend in a box. Three years after graduation the couple were walking through the woods behind Calvin's house when he finally asked Susie to marry him. She said yes and they had the wedding eight months later. Nobody paid any attention to the stuffed tiger that had somehow made it on top of one of the tables with the pictures of the lucky couple. Two years later Susie became pregnant with Catherine and the rest is history.

Calvin snapped out of his revere and smiled at his best friend.

"Hi ol' buddy," he whispered. "It's been a long time hasn't it? Listen, I need a favor from you, for old time's sake."

He paused for a second as though expecting an answer. In his mind's eye he could see his friend cross his arms and raise his eyebrow as though to say 'You expect a favor from me after leaving me on a shelf and forgetting about me for years?'

"Just listen for one minute, please? It's my daughter, Catherine. She's six and there are monsters under her bed and she needs someone to protect her. She's inherited my inability to make friends at that age so it'd actually be great if you'd stay with her. I've been told that she's a lot like me and that's true. She has a great imagination and I'm sure the two of you would get along famously. What do you say?"

The plush toy remained silent and Calvin sighed. He stood back up and carried Hobbes to Catherine's room. His daughter cocked her head to the side when she saw Hobbes.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"This is Hobbes," Calvin said as he set the stuffed animal down across form his daughter. "He's the fiercest, but also the most loyal, person I know. He protected me when I was your age and I know he'll do the same for you."

"He used to be yours?"

"Uh huh, he was my best friend and we had many crazy adventures together."

"Really? Can you tell me?"

"Not tonight I'm afraid, maybe after I've had more sleep. Right now, though, it's time for you to go back to sleep. You have school in a few hours."

Calvin got up and left the room. He was about to close the door when he looked up and swore he saw Hobbes the way he used to, smiling at him and giving him the thumbs up. He blinked and when he opened his eyes again there was just an old stuffed tiger. What did this mean though? Could he see Hobbes again? He shook his head to clear it and decided not to think about it. But he smiled as he closed the door and went back to join his wife.

* * *

"Did you take care of it?" murmured Susie as Calvin snuggled back up beside her.

"Yeah, the problem's solved," he answered as he draped an arm around her.

"What did you do?"

"I gave Hobbes to her."

"Hobbes? You gave her Hobbes?"

"Yeah, something wrong with that?"

"No, there's nothing wrong, it's just that I didn't realize you'd kept him all these years."

"He's been on a shelf of the bookcase in my studio. Haven't you seen him there?"

"No, I don't go in there very often and when I do my attention is on this rather handsome guy."

"Oh? What's he like?" asked Calvin as he kissed Susie on the cheek.

"Well, I've known him since I was six and at first I thought of him an annoying, immature, weird little brat. But as he got older I discovered other things about him. He had quite a philosophical mind, a vivid imagination, and as he matured he became rather attractive," Susie smiled as she turned to face her husband

"Sounds like someone I'd like to know," Calvin muttered as he claimed Susie's lips.

It would be awhile until they went back to sleep.

* * *

Back in Catherine's room she and Hobbes were still looking at each other.

"Hi, I'm Hobbes," Hobbes finally said. "Your dad told me that you're Catherine, right?"

"Hello, yes, my name is Catherine, but my parents sometimes call me Cat."

"I like that nickname," Hobbes grinned.

"You don't eat little girls, do you?"

"No, I mainly eat tuna."

"You will protect me from the monsters, right?"

"Of course, as long as there's a ferocious animal in bed with you those monsters will just run and run and run and run away," said Hobbes quite proudly.

Catherine smiled and pulled Hobbes closer to her so she could snuggle up. Before the duo fell asleep they were both thinking about how great it was to have a new friend.

The monsters under the bed didn't bother Catherine anymore.

_Only the beginning…_

_'Don't put away your childish things. Save them for your child.'_

_~Unknown_

* * *

A/N: My first  _Calvin and Hobbes_ fic! What do you think? I hope I do the cartoon justice as it Is my absolute favorite comic period. This idea came to me after I saw a picture on the internet about an adult Calvin giving his daughter, Bacon (who names their kid that?!) Hobbes. Anyway, it put this idea in my head and I had to get it out. I have the very basic plot of this fic mapped out in my head. It would basically revolve around Catherine showing Calvin how to use his imagination the was he used to and that eventually affecting Susie as well and allowing her to see Hobbes the way Calvin and Catherine do. But to make this work I need ideas for future chapter plots. If you love the strip as much as I do, please please PLEASE send some to me in a message or put them in a review. I really want to make this work but I need support. Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews and keeps the magic of  _Calvin and Hobbes_ alive.

I think that this part of the fic is a bit redundant but I'll say it anyway. I don't own the masterpiece that is  _Calvin and Hobbes. Catherine and Hobbes_ is based off the comic  _Hobbes and Bacon_ by _Pants are Overrated._  Besides, I'm sure there's a reason they call it  _Fan_ fiction. In other words... GET ALL THESE COPS AND LAWYERS OUT OF MY HOUSE!


	2. A Week Later

It had been a week since Calvin had given Hobbes to Catherine and the two were already inseparable. It reminded Calvin a lot of his childhood and adventures with Hobbes. Catherine and Hobbes getting to know each other and Hobbes had to agree that Catherine was definitely her father's daughter. There were differences though. She was like a more mellowed version of Calvin, but no less fun. She had her dad's imagination, extensive vocabulary, philosophical mind, penchant for getting into and causing trouble, and sometimes cynical outlook on the world. Areas where the differences were more obvious were school. While it did take some prying to get Catherine out of bed on a school morning, it was not nearly as bad as it had been with Calvin. As a result people on their street actually needed to set an alarm. Catherine had an aversion to school, not as strong as Calvin's, but she got decent grades in every subject except math. She had an interest in Dinosaurs as well but also loved history in general. She was an outsider at school and had no friends, as Calvin had said. She had even hit a boy once for making fun of her. Calvin and Susie had gotten a call and Susie had been disappointed in Catherine. But Calvin went upstairs that evening and told her he was proud of her for standing up for herself, but to just do it in more civil ways in the future. He was still unable to see Hobbes as anything more than just a plush toy.

"Hobbes?" asked Catherine as they walked through the woods on a brisk fall afternoon.

"Yes?"

"Why doesn't my dad see you the way I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"He said you were his best friend when he was my age, so did he see you as a bipedal, sentient, intelligent, anthropomorphic tiger?"

"He did."

"So why can't he see you like that now? I mean, he's already referred to you as a stuffed tiger so it's obvious he doesn't see you."

"He grew up. Grownups and other people also saw me as just a stuffed animal when I was with Calvin. I think that part of the reason, if not the entire reason, that he could see me as I really am is due to his vivid imagination, something you obviously inherited. That broke down the barriers that most people have to protect themselves from information overload. But as he grew up the he conformed to the world view of the way things should be and eventually stopped seeing me all together."

"That sounds pretty sad. I'm not sure I want to grow up now if it means I can't see you."

"It took longer for your dad not to see me than I thought it would, though. He was in his Junior year of high school the first time he saw me as just and inanimate object. By the middle of college that's all he saw me as."

"Will he ever be able to see you again?"

"I don't know. But he might if the night he gave me to you is any indication."

"What do you mean?"

"When he was about to close the door he looked at me stared for a second, as though surprised. I think he saw the real me for the first time in sixteen years. But enough of this sad talk, I'll race you back to the house," Hobbes said and darted off without a warning.

"Hey! No fair!" Catherine yelled and ran after him.

* * *

Hobbes appeared back in the back in the backyard with a look of pride on his face.

"I win!" he announced as Catherine came huffing over.

"Yeah, but you cheated," she gasped.

"Me? Cheat? Never," Hobbes said feigning hurt.

"Well you did! You took off without even saying ready, set, go!"

"Those are just formalities that we do without in the wild."

"You are such a tiger."

"And you're such a human."

They glared at each other for a second before they broke out laughing.

"Well what do you want to do now?" asked Hobbes as he recovered from the laugh attack.

"I have an idea, c'mon!"

* * *

Calvin was raking the leaves in the backyard when he saw Catherine and Hobbes come barreling out of the woods. Catherine was carrying Hobbes and when she stopped she looked like she was having an argument with the toy. Eventually they fell down and he heard his daughter laughing. She got back up, picked up Hobbes by the paws, and started spinning him around. Calvin smiled as he watched the two and wished that he could see Hobbes again. But nothing else had happened since the night he gave him to Catherine.

"Fall wasn't so bad at that age," he reminisced. "Now it's rake, rake, rake."

Truth be told, Calvin's imagination did leak into his life every now and then, like it was doing now. He looked at the pile of leaves he had made and could see it smiling at him, like it used to do when he was about to dive in as a kid about to dive right in only to discover the pile wanted to eat him.

"Keep smiling buddy, you're not getting me anymore," he glared as he went back to work.

"WHEEEEEE!"

Catherine flew through the air and landed in the leaf pile, sending leaves everywhere.

"Wow! Hobbes threw me from way over there!" she giggled as she ran back over to the tiger.

Calvin looked at the decimated leaf pile and couldn't help himself.

"HA!" he said while pointing at it. Then he caught himself. "Wait… what am I doing?"

Calvin mumbled to himself about the extra work he had now and raked the pile back. But it never stopped smiling as long as he was out there.

_Getting old is mandatory. Growing up is optional._

_~Unknown_

* * *

A/N: Well this was completely unexpected and yes, this is basically just a filler chapter. But it does serve the purpose of setting up the plot device of the possibility of Calvin seeing Hobbes again. On another note, I need quotes, nostalgic or otherwise, about childhood and growing up. If you have some please send them in a PM or put them in a review. I only have two more and this fic is going to be more chapters than that. Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews this.

Next: The Return of the Cardboard Box


	3. The Return of the Cardboard Box

"Hi Calvin. Mind if I join you for lunch?" asked Susie as she approached the table Calvin was sitting at.

"Yes."

Susie was undeterred and sat next to him anyway.

"I have soup today," she said conversationally. "What do you have?"

"A squid eyeball sandwich," Calvin answered without blinking.

"You do not! Don't be disgusting," she exclaimed.

"I like to suck out the retinas," he continued as he took a bite of his sandwich.

Susie had had enough. She got on top of the table and called for the teacher.

"MISS WORMWOOD!"

"Do you want a bite? Or were you leaving?" Calvin asked with a grin.

* * *

Twenty-six years later…

While Susie would admit that Calvin's description of his lunches in the first grade often made her loose her appetite, as an adult, she was glad for it. That part of Calvin had rubbed off on her over the years and when they became a couple in high school, he still did it but she could detect the teasing tone behind his words. She honestly believed that as an adult, she was better off for it. Raising a child that was nearly as troublesome as Calvin was at six years old became a daunting task at times and if it weren't for her memories of Calvin at that age she probably would have been irritated all the time instead of finding some way to laugh at Catherine's antics. Susie also believed that it taught her how to be more loose, to be a more fun person to be around. She would always be grateful for that. Calvin's voice brought her out of her thoughts as she approached the dining table with her soup.

"Hi, what do you have for lunch, dear?"

"Alien tentacle soup! You?" she asked with a small grin.

"A crushed bat sandwich," Calvin replied just as smooth as his wife. "It's a bit fuzzy at times, but it's OK if you don't think about it."

"I think mine is still alive," Susie continued as she raised her spoon.

Getting an idea Susie flicked her spoon at herself and one of the 'tentacles' landed under her nose. Calvin decided to play along.

"OH NO! One of them got you!"

"It's trying to suck my brains out, honey!"

* * *

Hobbes and Catherine were on the sofa playing a video game and the duo could hear every word that Calvin and Susie were saying.

"My parents are so weird," commented Catherine with an 'I'm completely weirded out right now' expression on her face.

"Do you think they're going to start smooching?" Hobbes asked as he looked over the sofa at the playful couple.

"Bleccchh! They'd better not! Thanks for that image, Hobbes. C'mon, let's go up to the attic and rummage through dad's old stuff before the 'weirdness' in here becomes intolerable," she said as she saved the game.

* * *

Calvin and Susie looked at each other and burst out laughing. Calvin was laughing so hard he fell out of his chair and Susie had tears falling down her cheeks. The laughter finally died down to stifled giggles and their breathing evened out.

"Have I told you how much I love you today?" asked Calvin.

"I don't think so."

"Well I do, and I couldn't be happier that you're my wife."

"And I'm glad that you're my husband. You encourage me to let my inner child out every once in a while and I do believe that I'm better off for it. I never would have said this when we were six but I'm glad we met."

"So am I Susie, so am I."

Calvin took a sip of his water and snorted a laugh as he put the glass back down.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I'm just remembering the first lunch we had together."

"I remember that, you claimed you had a squid eyeball sandwich!"

"I did, and you told me to not be disgusting."

"Seriously, squid eyeballs? Where would your mom have gotten those?"

"Well, they're not common and I'll admit that they're an acquired taste, kind of like Escargot."

"Stop, you'll make me have another laugh attack!"

The rest of the conversation for that lunch was about their memories from childhood and a fair amount of them involved Calvin.

* * *

Catherine and Hobbes were rummaging around through the boxes and things in the attic when Hobbes found something. He hadn't noticed it at first as it was in the corner and covered by a tarp but the handle to it was sticking out and he recognized it.

"Hey, take a look at this," he called over his shoulder as he pulled off the tarp.

"What is it?" asked Catherine as she walked over.

"It's the wagon. Calvin and I used to ride down hills in the woods with this in the spring and summer. Of course, we usually ended up crashing or flying off a cliff."

"It looks like its seen better days, though," Catherine pointed out.

She was right. The little red wagon was faded with age, had multiple rust spots, and was missing a wheel.

"It's nothing," insisted Hobbes. "A lick of paint, a bit of oil, and this will be restored to its former glory and we can use it."

"Wow, you really think so?"

"I'm sure that Calvin would want you to have it."

"When we're done up here let's go back down and ask him!"

Catherine turned around and started exploring a bit more and found a cardboard box that had childish writing on the side.

T-I-M-E M-A-C-H-I-N-E

"Hobbes? What is this?"

Hobbes took one look at the box and freaked.

"NO! You're not getting me in that thing! I'm not being transmogrified or duplicated and I'm certainly not going back to the Jurassic period!" he exclaimed as he bolted from the attic, tail bushy.

"What was that all about?"

* * *

Calvin and Susie were cleaning up their dishes when Catherine came in carrying the cardboard box.

"Dad, I found this in the attic. What is it? Hobbes took one look at it and ran."

"Wow! I forgot I had this in the attic," Calvin grinned as he looked at the box. "This, Catherine, is an invention of mine from when I was six. With a few modifications this box can be a transmogrifier, to turn you into something else, a duplicator to make copies of yourself, and a time machine!"

"A time machine? Really? Can I use it?"

"Slow down, sweetie. This has seen better days and needs some maintenance first. Plus, I have some ideas to improve it. Give me a half hour and you can use it."

"YIPPPPEEE!"

* * *

During that half hour Catherine talked to Hobbes nonstop about how excited she was. She was going to travel in time! She couldn't wait for her dad to finish repairs. Hobbes, predictably, was not all too excited about the whole thing. His tail still bushed up at the thought of his and Calvin's first trip to the time of the dinosaurs. But Catherine assured him that here first destination was likely to be the industrial revolution. Hobbes still wasn't sure. After what seemed like an eternity, Calvin was done with the time machine/duplicator/transmogrifier

"All right, Catherine! It's done!"

"YES! Let me see! Let me see!"

"Her it is, sweetheart. I've made these to go with it," Calvin said as he held up an assortment of stick on decals. "These are for when you've got it as a transmogrifier. You put this label on it along with this keypad and button. You use the keypad to input what other animal you want to be. Remember that you crawl under the transmogrifier. Now when you want it to be a duplicator, just put it on its side and put on this label and take off the keypad. You climb into the time machine through the top and input you desired destination time on this keypad, which you put inside here," he demonstrated.

"Oh boy! I can't wait to show Hobbes!"

"About that, speaking from experience, if you want him to go time travelling with you, it's best to lure him in with good snacks."

"Thanks dad, you're the best," Catherine said as she gave Calvin a hug.

"You're more than welcome. Oh, before I forget, you'll want these when you time travel," he added as he produced two pairs of goggles.

"You need goggles to travel through time?"

"Of course, it's not like walking down a street. You have to contend with vortexes and light speeds. So goggles are a very necessary safety device."

"Alright, always wear your goggles, got it!"

"Good, now go have some fun."

"I will, Hobbes! Where are you, you flea ridden mongrel?"

_There's no point in being grownup if you can't be childish sometimes._

_~Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor_

* * *

_A/N: Yikes! I did not expect to be gone for this long. I'm really sorry everyone. I hope you all aren't too angry. Are you?  (dodges gunfire) OK, OK! I have no excuse for my absence but If you kill me you won't get anymore updates! I have a lot planned for 2016 and I hope that the promise of more regular updates will placate you. Alright? Do we have an agreement? Good, good readers. Now put down the guns... thank you. Happy new year to all and keep on writing._

_Knight Writer 95_


	4. The Wizard of Menlo Park

_Previously on Catherine and Hobbes:_

"All right, Catherine! It's done!"

"YES! Let me see! Let me see!"

"Her it is, sweetheart. I've made these to go with it," Calvin said as he held up an assortment of stick on decals. "These are for when you've got it as a transmogrifier. You put this label on it along with this keypad and button. You use the keypad to input what other animal you want to be. Remember that you crawl under the transmogrifier. Now when you want it to be a duplicator, just put it on its side and put on this label and take off the keypad. You climb into the time machine through the top and input you desired destination time on this keypad, which you put inside here," he demonstrated.

"Oh boy! I can't wait to show Hobbes!"

"About that, speaking from experience, if you want him to go time travelling with you, it's best to lure him in with good snacks."

"Thanks dad, you're the best," Catherine said as she gave Calvin a hug.

"You're more than welcome. Oh, before I forget, you'll want these when you time travel," he added as he produced two pairs of goggles.

"You need goggles to travel through time?"

"Of course, it's not like walking down a street. You have to contend with vortexes and light speeds. So goggles are a very necessary safety device."

"Alright, always wear your goggles, got it!"

"Good, now go have some fun."

"I will. Hobbes! Where are you, you flea ridden mongrel?"

* * *

"Some things never change. It still feels like it's just me in this box," frowned Hobbes as he and Catherine settled down in the cardboard box.

"Oh come on, it won't be that bad."

"How do you know? Are you even sure you're facing the right way?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The first time Calvin and I went time traveling he was facing the wrong way so we went into the past instead of the future."

"So?"

"So we ended up in the time of the dinosaurs!"

"What's so awful about that? I love dinosaurs."

"Would you enjoy meeting a T-Rex or an Allosaur?"

"Not up close, no."

"Exactly. I almost had to sacrifice my sandwich the second time we went there."

"You are such a tiger," Catherine muttered as she slid her goggles into place.

"Where are we going exactly?"

"I was thinking of Jersey, 1880 specifically."

"Is there anything special about that date?"

"It's the year Thomas Edison invented the light bulb."

"You don't mean…"

"Yep! We're going to see the Wizard of Menlo Park!"

"I knew letting you watch _Oz the Great and Powerful_ was a bad idea."

"Well if you want we can go to England and meet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle instead."

"If he's as observant as his creation I'm almost sure we'd create some sort of paradox."

"So it's settled then, Jersey it is. Vortex goggles on and away we go!"

The box lifted up off the ground and started to accelerate at an exponential rate. Finally they broke through the barrier of the fourth dimension and traveled through a constantly changing abstract landscape.

"Is it time for snacks yet?" asked Hobbes.

"Now? Are you crazy? We're in a time vortex, wait until we land!"

"When will that be?" he asked as he looked over the edge.

"Will you hold still? You'll make me miss our destination and then we will end up back with the dinosaurs!"

Hobbes sat still right away.

The nice early afternoon atmosphere of Jersey was disrupted by a cardboard box that appeared in the middle of the sky and descended to ground level unnoticed by the bustling people of the city.

"We made it! We're in 1880!" exclaimed Catherine as she piloted the time machine into a landing in an alley.

"Well this is better destination than the Jurassic period," admitted Hobbes as he removed his goggles and got out of the time machine.

"Smell that air, I think it's cleaner than the air in some parts of the world back in our time," Catherine commented as she took a deep sniff.

"It still smells though."

"That's probably because of the industrialization. There are lots of factories that are spilling pollutants into the air. Looking back I find it hard to imagine how humans didn't kill themselves during the Industrial Revolution."

"It's a mystery we may never know the answer to," agreed Hobbes as the duo started walking through late Nineteenth century Jersey.

Catherine would be lying if she were to say that industrial Jersey was like she thought it would be. It certainly wasn't as clean, there was a lot of noise, and as Hobbes mentioned, it did smell. Nonetheless she was undeterred and soaked in her new surroundings with a sense of awe and wonder. Finely dressed men hustled about to their job and women in elegant dresses carried numerous boxes with them as they shopped. Street vendors at a nearby market called out their wares and large burly men unloaded horse pulled carts filled with barrels of who knows what. It was somewhat odd, to the girl and tiger, to see just how… primitive this period was compared to what they were used to. The streets were lined with gas powered lamps, the dress was certainly more fancy, and the harbors and piers were bustling with steam powered boats that were puffing black smoke out their stacks. In the background there were the factories, large and grungy and spewing out pollutants like a man puffing on a cigar.

All this and more fascinated Catherine and it took a lot of self-restraint to not go running about trying to see everything she could. She knew she could get in serious trouble that was and this time her parents weren't here to help her. Granted, of course, she could tell Hobbes to eat anyone who attacked her but that was something she would prefer to avoid. What if the man he ate turned out to be JP Morgan? Then it might take even longer for Edison to bring electric lighting to America.

To Hobbes this was also rather interesting. While he did his best to avoid time travel, and would never admit it, he too was also drawn into the adventure and couldn't not feel the same wonder and curiosity. This was a new environment, new sights, new sounds, and new smells, not all of them pleasant. But it was still a new experience and it did draw him in somewhat every time. As they wandered deeper into the city he sniffed the air more as an enticing aroma overcame his senses. Eventually they came to the source.

"Yum, a sushi bar," Hobbes grinned as he approached a fish vendor. "Let's see… tuna, halibut, some good salmon, but no swordfish. I was thinking a seared swordfish would be good."

"Hobbes, stop drooling over the fish and let's go before we get in trouble!"

"But it's fresh fish! The Chinese give new meaning to the word 'fresh,' " he argued. "I can guarantee this is fresher than anything your mom can get back at the store."

"We don't even have any period accurate money!"

"But it's fish! How can you say no?"

"It's easy, I'm human. Now come on!" griped Catherine as she grabbed Hobbes by the paw and somehow managed to drag him away.

"You owe me some tuna now."

"Duly noted, now Menlo Park should be this way."

Eventually the duo found themselves outside Menlo Park, a white seemingly ordinary two story house surrounded by a picket fence, but Catherine knew better. Some of the world's most important inventions were being made in there from the movie camera to the phonograph to the electric light which was being invented today.

The six-year-old and her tiger approached the deceptively ordinary looking house but as they did Catherine tripped and took a hard tumble.

"Ouch," she cried out, more in surprise than in pain.

"Are you alright my dear?" came a voice.

Catherine looked up and found herself staring into kind but intense blue eyes that burned with intelligence. "I think I'm alright."

"We should probably get that scrape cleaned, though. It looks rather nasty," the man said as he helped her up.

Now Catherine took a closer look at the mystery man. He was an older man, with lines starting to appear on his face and thin receding white hair. He looked painstakingly familiar, though, and it didn't take more than a single second to figure out who this man was.

"Thomas Edison?"

"Yes, that is my name."

"Wow! I've wanted to meet you for about as long as I can remember!" gushed Catherine with a wide grin plastered on her face.

"Really? Well then you must consider it a stroke of luck that you happened to trip in front of my place," he smiled back as he opened the door.

"I do now."

Catherine and Hobbes were taken upstairs where Edison got out a first aid kit and removed some disinfectant and bandages. As he cleaned the scrape Catherine started asking questions.

"Mr. Edison, what's your favorite invention?"

"Grass."

"Grass? Why grass?"

"Well grass is a fascinating invention. Do you know what makes it green? Or how it grows?"

"I don't know what makes it green but I do know that it needs to make its own food which it does through photosynthesis which uses sunlight."

"You're very knowledgeable for a person your age."

"I read a lot."

"You must do very well in school then."

"I do alright but I'm not very good at math."

"There, that's taken care of the scrape."

"Thanks Mr. Edison. Mr. Edison? If it's not too much trouble, are you working on an invention right now?"

"Well of course, right now I'm working on something called a light bulb. It's over there on the bench," he nodded to a table that was littered with odds and ends. On it was a prototype for Edison's light bulb.

"How long have you been working on it?"

"Quite some time, honestly. This is over my two-hundredth attempt."

"You've failed over two hundred times to make a light bulb?"

"Oh no, I haven't failed. I've just discovered over two hundred ways how not to make a light bulb."

"But have you got it this time?"

"I haven't. After this attempt didn't work I went out for a walk. When I came back it was when you tripped. I've tried just about everything I can think of."

"What you need is something that catches fire but doesn't burn right? What about something like… a cotton filament thread?"

"A cotton thread? But that… would it… yes. That just might work!" Edison exclaimed and scuttled over to his bench to get to work.

Catherine grinned and hopped down to the floor and she and Hobbes left Edison to his work.

"Well this was certainly one of my more enjoyable time travel experiences," said Hobbes as they meandered back to the time machine.

"Yes, this was certainly an adventure I'm going to remember," Catherine agreed.

"The only thing I'm sorry about is not getting some of that lovely fresh salmon."

"I'll see if I can talk mom into making salmon for dinner tonight."

"Mm, please do! I'd like it grilled with a dash of lemon juice!"

"Here we are, vortex goggles on!"

"As much as this was enjoyable I'm looking forward to getting back home. I've had enough time travel for today."

"Why don't we stop a little before we reach our time and see what I'm like in Jr. High?"

"Let's not. I want my salmon."


	5. The Return of Spaceman Spiff

Tick-tock… tick-tock… tick-tock…

The clock continued to tick away the minutes as it drew closer to two-fifteen in the afternoon. Hobbes slinked up to the window in Catherine's room and gazed out down the street where the bus would be stopping soon now. It had been a long time since he felt this way, exhilarated with the thrill of the metaphorical hunt. He waited half hidden in the shadows as he heard the bus stop outside and the sounds of children running out, eager to hoard their freedom before their parents dragged them in to do their homework. Hobbes' body went tense and he became like a coiled spring ready to be unleashed. The door handle jiggled and he narrowed his eyes. The door opened and Hobbes launched himself through the air at Catherine.

Catherine was walking in the door and saw something orange flying towards her at high velocity. She didn't think, she just did it. With little effort she threw herself into the air, twisting her body so that Hobbes didn't hit her. She flipped over in the air, landed on the tiger's back and somersaulted off and stuck a perfect landing as Hobbes crashed.

"That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. How did-"

"Gymnastics," Catherine answered easily as she walked away. Maybe she could raid the cookie jar if her mom was out.

After getting an oatmeal raisin cookie and a glass of milk, Catherine walked to where her dad did his work. Calvin was a stay at home dad who drew a highly successful comic strip based on his adventures with Hobbes as a six-year old. The office was filled with the only merchandise Calvin would allow, the books, and the numerous awards he had won. Fan pictures filled one wall and over the drawing board where he drew the comic were pictures of him as a kid with Hobbes and more recent pictures with Susie and of course, Catherine. But what Catherine liked most about her dad's office was the model airplanes. She liked to play with them and when she did, she often assumed the identity of one of her own alter-egos, Spruce Ludvig.

* * *

_"_ _Exploring the farthest reaches of the galaxy, boldly confronting the bizarre and unknown zooms the intrepid space explorer, Spruce Ludvig! The vile Insectoids of Planet X-493 are closing in on our hero! The fiery flash of a destructo-ray misses our hero by mere millimeters! Spruce's only gambit is to dive into the rings of Planet Z-25 below and navigate the rocks. Our hero hits the thrusters and dives! The gambit works! The Insectoids are too scared to follow the fearless Spruce into the frozen fragments of ice and rock!_

_"_ _Swerving left and right, up and down, the amazing Spruce Ludvig pilots her way around each and every missile! What skill! What precision! What fortitu… suddenly an asteroid hits Spruce's craft! Our hero is going down! Spruce wrestles with the controls but the altituditron refuses to respond! With ever increasing velocity, Spruce roars to her doom! Her only hope to the attempt a thousand mile-an-hour landing! Spruce lowers the landing gear and levels out! Will she make it?! Yes! The incredible Spruce Ludvig survives! Dazed, but unhurt, our hero crawls out of the smoldering wreckage."_

* * *

"Catherine, don't play with those," said Calvin as he finally looked up from his work to see what his daughter was doing and bringing her out of her imagination made environment.

"I'm not Catherine, dad, I'm Spruce Ludvig and I've just crashed onto Planet Z-25!"

"They're not toys, sweetie, please put them away."

"Fine," Catherine sighed and reluctantly put the models back.

Calvin watched as his daughter left dejectedly and felt somewhat sad. It had been years since he used his imagination the way he had at six and seeing Catherine play brought back memories of when he had pretended to be Spaceman Spiff. It had also been a while since he had spent quality time with Catherine beyond reading her a bedtime story. When she got back from school she usually went upstairs to play with Hobbes or sat down in front of the TV to watch a show while he did his work. Deciding that work could wait, Calvin called his daughter back.

"Catherine?"

"Yeah, dad?" she asked as she came back into the studio.

"Who did you say you were?"

"Spruce Ludvig, interplanetary explorer extraordinaire."

"That reminds me of someone I used to be when I was your age."

"You were a space explorer too?"

"Yes, I was Spaceman Spiff. Would you like to meet him?"

"Yes!"

"Then tell me where you were in your adventure…"

* * *

_"_ _As Spaceman Spiff explores the galaxy, he picks up a distress call coming from Planet Z-25. It's fellow interplanetary explorer extraordinaire, Spruce Ludvig. Our hero sees an Insectoid mother ship orbiting the planet and decides to lend a hand. Waiting until the enemy ship is on the other side of the planet, Spiff descends to the planet's surface. Once he has landed, Spiff scans the planet for signs of life and finds several signals near his position. One is Spruce Ludvig, the other is an Insectoid scout party. Spiff sets out in the direction of Spruce to warn her of the scout party before she is captured."_

* * *

_"_ _Spruce walks across the barren surface of Planet Z-25, encountering no new life forms. The sun beats down mercilessly as it reaches its zenith in the sky. Across the landscape, out hero spots a life form moving in her direction. Is it friendly or hostile? Taking cover behind a boulder, Spruce takes out her zorcher and sets it to 'shake and bake.' Seconds later Spruce dares to peek out over the boulder and is confronted with…_

_…_ _Spaceman Spiff, a living legend among interplanetary explorers!"_

* * *

_"_ _Spaceman Spiff treks across the surface of Planet Z-25 searching for Spruce Ludvig. Unknown to the other interplanetary explorer, an Insectoid ship has followed her to the surface of the planet to finish her off. Spiff must find Spruce and warn her before it's too late! Finally after running across the barren surface, Spiff appears to be getting closer. Our hero approaches a bolder and sees a flash of blonde hair, Spruce Ludvig!_

_"_ _Ludvig, it's alright, I'm Space Man Spiff."_

_"_ _Space Man Spiff?_

_"_ _Yes, I've come to help you. An Insectoid scout party has landed on the surface and they're coming to find you."_

_"_ _Where are they?"_

_Before the intrepid Spiff can answer a burst of frap-ray zips by his head, missing him by micromips._

_"_ _I'd say they've already found us," says Spiff as he returns fire with his zorcher and joins Spruce on the other side of the rock._

_"_ _Spruce Ludvig and Spaceman Spiff fight against a larger number of Insectoid scouts but the enemies numbers are slowly whittled down until only one remains. It's another victory for our heroes. But before the last bug falls he manages to get off a signal to his mother ship. There's more trouble heading our heroes' way."_

* * *

_Spaceman Spiff and Spruce Ludvig are victorious! But there's more scouts coming and our heroes need to do something fast or be shipped off to the Insectoid mineral mines!_

_"_ _That bug got a distress signal off to the mother ship. Where's your craft, Spruce? If we can fix it before more company gets here we can leave before we're overwhelmed and captured."_

_"_ _It'll take too long to repair my ship, the stabilizers are shot, the altuditron is gone, I'm sure the breaks are locked, and the freemray needs to be recalibrated."_

_"_ _Then what do we do?"_

_"_ _It looks like we stay and fight."_

_No sooner are the words out of our heroes mouth than the ground starts shaking underneath the duo. Spruce dares to peek out from behind the boulder and sees a horrifying sight._

_"_ _Spiff, the Insectiods have unleashed one of their autonomous battle mechs!"_

_Our heroes put up a valiant fight but it's hopeless! Their zorchers are of no use against the mech's armor._

_"_ _Spiff, there has to be a weakness somewhere on that thing, we're just not seeing it!"_

_"_ _I agree, but the entire thing is covered in a quantanium shell. It would take an atomic napalm neutralizer to crack it!"_

_"_ _Well think of something fast, it's almost on top of us and our zorchers need to recharge!"_

_"_ _I'm thinking! Zorchers useless, no demise-o-bombs, and possibly seconds left to live. Think! Wait… that's it!"_

_"_ _What? Do you have something?"_

_"_ _There's one place the quantanium isn't protecting! The eyes!"_

_Now that there's hope again for our heroes, they spring into action. But they only have one shot each. They can't miss! The mech lurches ever closer and Spiff and Spruce line up their shots. Will their aims be true? Yes! They both fire and the eyes of the mech are destroyed! Blind, the mech stumbles around and collides with a cliff, causing a rockslide to bury it. Our heroes are once again victorious!_

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Calvin and Catherine are brought out of their fantasy world and see Susie in the doorway.

"Umm, Catherine's just helping me play with my models?" Calvin tried.

Susie looks at them but before she can say anything Catherine finally bursts and starts talking.

"We were playing Spaceman Spiff and Spruce Ludvig, mom! Dad was Spiff and I was Ludvig! We were on Planet Z-25 and fighting an Insectoid battle mech! It nearly got us but then Spiff found its weak spot, the eyes! We both fired at the same time and blinded it!"

"Well, it sounds like you've had a busy and exciting afternoon. But it's after three now, you need to go upstairs and do your homework."

"Aww, I hate homework," moaned Catherine as she handed one of the models back to her dad. "Thanks for playing with me, dad. Can we do it again?"

"Of course, we'll continue the adventure soon."

Catherine smiled, hugged her dad and bounded up the stairs to do her homework. At least she had a history assignment to work on.

* * *

A/N: Well... this is awkward. After a long absence I'm finally back with another chapter but fear I may have taken too long and no one is interested in this anymore. It's good to be me. But here the next chapter, hope you like it. I did not expect it to be so hard to write. You have no idea how many Spaceman Spiff cartoons I had to read to get this written. I won't be doing another Spiff or Ludvig chapter, sorry. It's just too much for me at the moment. It also didn't help that I had all these tests to study for all of a sudden. But no matter, my academic life is a bit calmer now so chapters should be coming out as regularly as I can manage.

NEXT: THE BABY-SAT STRIKES BACK


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